Despite hooping’s growing popularity, the dominant style and culture of the hoop community still seems to be fairly counterculture. That’s why I was so surprised to see us mentioned in Ryan Murphy’s new sitcom, “A New Normal.” (I have a bit of a gay crush on the star, Andrew Rannells. I’m not gay but he I think he is, or at least he plays a gay man on TV. I saw him in Book of Mormon last year and he is just Clark Kent, just-fell-off-the-turnip-truck, pinch-his-cheeks-and-put-him-in-your-pocket adorable.)

In the scene, a gay soon-to-be father frets over his ability to care for his unborn son. The priest replies:

“Of course [your son] too will bring you pain. Come see me when he’s a teenager and knocks up some professional hula hooper he just met at Burning Man.” – The New Normal, “Dog Children”http://www.hulu.com/watch/458354#i0,p12,d0 (go to 18:47)

Now that hooping has made it to popular consciousness, maybe we won’t have to explain anymore what we’re doing with these big hoops. Maybe hoops will become as ubiquitous as yoga mats. (When’s the last time you heard someone asking: “What do you do with them mats?”) We’ve made it into a Ryan Murphy show. You can’t get any more mainstream than that. Except of course if one day Baxter ends up on “Dancing With The Stars.” Now that I would pay to see.

So the Maidan. If you don’t know what they are you have probably never attended a Hoop Path workshop with master Hoop Pather Jonathan Livingston Baxter. While I’ll leave the in-depth teaching metaphors to him, I’ll tell you that the Maidan are part of a myth that Bax uses to teach you how to connect to your hoop.

Like Baxter, I usually encourage my students away from the “gotta get tricks” approach to hooping. Besides that, I don’t know that we have that much else in common, besides a weakness for Puma sneakers. But I love his classes and you should check it out of you’re in town. Tickets for this weekend’s workshop in Brooklyn are on sale now.

Happy Valentine’s Day hoopers! If you have someone to share it with, show your appreciation. If you don’t – yet – enjoy this time for yourself. It’s worth the wait for someone who is worthy of the unique package that is you.